Sayings of Samuel Godfrey George - November 2015, Part 2

Jesus said before he went to the cross, "Love one another as I have loved you." Our question as Jesus followers should be this. "How did Jesus love us? Did he love us even when we didn't love him? Did he love us even when we were sinners totally removed from his light? Or did he love only those who responded to him and sought his light? Did he love us by coming to us and spending time with the most despised among us, or did he love us by distancing himself from us? How did he respond to those who felt lost? Did he let them go, or did he go after them, determined to find them at any cost?" Once we arrive at the answers, we must ask a further question. "If Jesus loved like this, should we also not love like this, as he commanded?" And we must ask God to give us the grace to love like this.

Love the people you have in your life today. And love them well. This is the one task that you must not fail to do. For if you love them you will also love God.

Let us not blame God for what we are and what we do. We are what we are by our own choice. We do what we do by our own choice. We can never blame God for what we do, for we do it knowing well that what we do is wrong.

If you wouldn't accept me in my rags, does it matter if you would accept me in my riches?

Don't have a good opinion of yourself. Know your weaknesses, and be mindful of your helplessness without God. And you will be well.

Every day as I work for God I am more aware of myself and what I am expected to do. And increasingly I am at peace with who I am emerging to be, though what I seek for myself and what God has made me to be are not the one and the same thing.

When you help others genuinely without being overly concerned about yourself, you are fasting in the eyes of God.

Fasting is not merely a matter of abstaining from food and water and spending time in devotion and prayer. It is actually a matter of leaving one’s comfort zone and helping others in distress and saving them from their difficult situations. It is not turning away from one’s own flesh and blood. This is the kind of fasting that God has ordained.

Seek God before you seek anyone else today. Look to God and receive from him the grace to live this day. You do this by faith. You receive this invisible blessing from your invisible God. Believe this and live accordingly.

Don't work to go to heaven. Just believe that you'll get there. You are with Jesus, and where he is, it is heaven.

What I am is a child of God. There is nothing you need to know about me beyond that.

If you believe in the power of God, then believe also this. God lives within you. And you have his power living within you. And you can use that power and live the life that God wants you to live.

If you think you cannot, you probably will not. Believe that you can, and maybe you will.

One should be careful when entering this institution called marriage. One should ask oneself these questions, “Am I ready for this? Will I be ready to sacrifice for another person? Will I be able to deny myself if I have to? Am I a slave to a certain impulse? Am I addicted to something? Do I find it difficult to control myself? Will I be there for my spouse and my children? Will I destroy them by my behaviour? If the answers to these questions are not yes, then it is best not to get married.

Once you marry you have responsibilities. And these are serious responsibilities. The one who is not ready to take on these responsibilities should not marry. Unfortunately, in this world people do get married without considering the cost of marriage, and without being ready or even willing to take on the responsibilities of marriage.

People who are very weak and not able to control themselves and who are addicted to certain things should not get married. Such people are not ready to take on the responsibilities of marriage. If they get into a marriage without considering the cost of marriage, they will make mistakes that are far too great to be repaired.

We humans cannot produce this love for God. Without this love we won’t go very far. We will always have challenges in life. And it is only those who love God who will find a way of rising above these challenges. Those who love God will stay faithful to him. Those who love God will be willing to wait for him, no matter how long it takes. To do this let us show love for God. Let us experience this love. And if we don’t have it, let us say to God, “Please place that love in our hearts. Please let our hearts seek you. Let our hearts yearn for you. Let us love you above everything, O Lord.”

All the advice that I give is for myself. If it is useful to someone else, it is only incidental.

Don't be lost in yourself. There's plenty to appreciate elsewhere.

Thanking God is a reality of the heart. It is not words uttered meaningfully or meaninglessly. It is a matter of feeling an overwhelming gratitude. It is a matter of letting that gratitude suffuse every bit of one's existence. It is a matter of letting that gratitude transform us into people who are aching to give. We thank God not with words, but with the very way we live.

Faith is not to be taken lightly. People who believe in God should be ready for the challenges in faith. And these are very difficult challenges. But God is with us. He will give us the strength to face them. All that we need to do is to believe that he is with us. And we should remind ourselves, “Look, God promised never to leave you, never to forsake you. Why are you worried? Why do you allow your heart to be troubled? Jesus said, ‘Let not your heart be troubled.’ We will not allow our hearts to be troubled.” And this is how we overcome the difficulties in faith.

Faith in God is not easy. But God is always with us. He promised us, “I will never leave you. I will never forsake you.” And if we truly believe in this, we will not be dismantled no matter how difficult the situation is. We will not let our position of faith be destroyed, no matter what the trial is. But if we allow ourselves to be assailed by doubts to the degree that we lose faith in God, then it only shows that we are not ready for this great undertaking called faith.

God is faithful and he will not fail us. But we must wait for him patiently. There are moments in life when we need to wait for God’s help. We must wait in an attitude to faith. We must wait trusting in God to answer our prayer. Sometimes we need to say a prayer many times. Sometimes we need to not only ask, but also seek and knock. Sometimes we need to knock defiantly. Sometimes we need to knock unceasingly. Sometimes we need to even wrestle with God. Sometimes we may even have to suffer physical injury, as Jacob the patriarch had to. But Jacob was not willing to let God go. He said, “I will not let you go until you bless me.” This is the defiance we need to show in our lives of faith. There is a fight to faith. And we must be willing to fight. Those who are not ready to fight should not be in this thing called faith. I agree with James, the brother of Jesus. There is no place for wavering in faith. We must stick to our position. And this is our position. God will not fail us. God will never leave us. He will never forsake us. He will save us. Many may indeed be our afflictions, but God will not forsake us. This is how we live our lives for God.

I think it is possible to show an uncompromising faith in God. There are moments when all of us have doubts. There are moments of testing when we wonder whether God is really there. But we cannot allow these moments to rule over us. We cannot allow them to change our essential attitude to God. And our essential attitude to God is one of faith. We believe in God and in his goodness. And anyone who shows belief in God must also know that there will come moments in life when he or she will be tempted to doubt God’s goodness and faithfulness. We get into this thing called faith knowing well that there will be stiff challenges and great difficulties that we should be ready to take on. If we are not ready to take them on, then we are not ready for this thing called faith.

James, the brother of Jesus said, “Let the man who wavers in his faith not think that he can get anything from God.” That may sound a bit harsh. Is it possible to be always faithful to God? Do doubts not occur from time to time? Do people of faith not find themselves doubting their faith, even doubting God and his goodness and his faithfulness? Is it always possible to show an uncompromising faith in God?

God's faithfulness far exceeds our faithlessness. And He is perfectly able to be faithful and good even while we are faithless and lost.

Faith comes first. Declaration comes later. Faith comes from God. And declaration must come from faith.

 

You are a work of God. So don't even try to meddle with God's work.

 

Sometimes when you talk you discover what was deeply within you, yet you never knew it was there.

 

The price of wisdom is not affordable to all. Not every man is ready to fall repeatedly to learn about falling. We all would like to rise and walk steadily for many days before we ever fall again. We would even prefer to be champion walkers who seldom fall. But how many of us would prefer to fall repeatedly to learn why we fall? Perhaps there is no one like that. Yet there are some of us that God has chosen to experience the act of falling so many times that we have become unwittingly exponents of falling and students of failure. There is much that repeated failure can point out to a man studying his own depraved heart. The heart is an inexhaustible source of vice, and there is apparently no end to understanding it or very little or no possibility of overcoming its unending stirrings. Repeated failure to overcome the heart can only lead to a deep distrust of everything that proceeds from it, and this should turn a man outward to the only one who can master it. And he is the one who made it. He alone can conquer its raging rebellion. A man of this kind will greatly appreciate the need to submit his heart to God. This alone will ensure the submission of every other part of his body. Students of failure will gladly run to the only one who can stop the rot and do even more. He is God, and he alone can break the depraved heart and remake it to mirror his own. That is the hope, which only the hopeless can entertain best.

 

God is not responsible for the way things are. We are. We humans are given the freedom to live our lives our way. And when we exercise this freedom, unfortunate events occur sometimes. Human beings clash. Human wills clash. Human paths collide. And accidents happen. When accidents happen we should accept them as a natural outcome of the way human beings are constituted. Human knowledge is imperfect. Human actions are imperfect. When such is the case accidents will certainly take place.

 

What if I fall into temptation? What if I fall again and again into the same temptation? Am I not rebelling against God when I fall into a temptation? Should I not fight against it and resist it with all the strength that I have? Do I not have the strength of God within me? Can I not do all things through Christ who strengthens me? This is my response to these questions. If you are a child of God, you will ultimately be able to behave like God. When you ultimately behave like God, you will avoid evil and do good always. But this is not immediately achievable. No child can do immediately what an adult can potentially do. A child should grow up for his ability to increase. A human child cannot experience the entire potential of the human being immediately. He reaches various levels of ability as he gradually develops into an adult. And even when he is fully grown up, he may not display all the skills and abilities that human beings can evince. When such is the case with human performance, godly performance may be even more difficult to achieve. But with God this is possible. Still there is a process of growth that a spiritually reborn person must undergo. One cannot specify the years or place a time-limit on a work that God performs inwardly in a person. And God may not work identically in all people. But he always achieves the same result. He completes this work of inner transformation in his time. And until this time is reached, human beings born of God will falter and fail. They will struggle with sin and may even repeatedly fall into temptation. But let them not interpret this as a failure on their part to be what God wants them to be. Let them not consider themselves rebels for their behaviour is not aimed at displeasing and dishonouring God. Their behaviour is only a consequence of an inner weakness that God is remedying in them gradually. Let them see themselves as works in progress. And let them trust in God to complete his work in them.

 

It is good for a man to be constantly aware of his own weakness. It may feel like a curse, but it is a blessing. It is the thing that keeps him in order. It is the thing that keeps him seeking God. God did command the weak person to declare his strength. But this is not a strength that is humanly achieved. It is a strength that is derived from a supernatural source. It is in weakness that a human discovers the strength of another in him. It is in total weakness that this strength is fully seen. It is the strength of God who reveals it most when a man is in a state of weakness. Unless a man is weak he may never find this strength within him.

 

How do you know that God approves of you and your work? Look deeply into your heart. See if there is something beautiful glowing inside of you. Look outside of you and see if you feel a desire to give to someone without any ulterior motive. And then consider your life. Have you received gifts that came from nowhere? Have you been helped by God especially in times of crises? Are you going on doing something out of love for God though there is no possible way you can sustain yourself? If these are true in your life, you can conclude that God approves of you and what you are doing.

 

Everyone's disapproval means nothing if you have God's approval.

 

You only need God's approval. Every other approval is ultimately useless.

 

I suppose all of us feel grateful at some point in our lives. What do we do when we are grateful? How do express our gratitude? To whom do we express our gratitude? This is the question today. I’d like to express my gratitude to God because I believe he is the reason why everything is. He is the reason why all things exist. God is the reason for me. God is the reason for you. God is the reason why this communication is taking place right now. When he is all our reasons, shouldn’t we give thanks to him and express our gratitude to him? Let’s be grateful to God for understanding this: he is the reason for everything. My grateful heart will not stop giving thanks to God for life.

 

There is a way out of darkness. But the light must come from God and He alone can guide a man through this perilous path. It is not easy for anyone, but with God this journey is possible.

 

Sleep well friend. There is a God who is watching over you.

 

Where sin abounded grace abounded even more. Happy is the one who knows her darkness.

 

Many men tried to understand God's heart and they failed. Only one could reveal it to us. And he died the worst kind of death to save us while we were still unaware of his heart. And his heart and God's heart are not dissimilar.

 

It is the one who is most lost who is most sought in heaven. He is the one God seeks and will respond to first.

 

We all are ill-behaved. We all have unconfessed sins. We all have fallen short of the glory of God. And it doesn't matter whether it is by an inch or a mile. A sinner is a sinner, no matter how little he has sinned. And God loves all sinners, and takes the time to go after the ones that get lost. Let us not forget that fact in our holy zeal to declaim those who seem so far away from God.

 

God always answers the sincere cry of his most ill-behaved child. For he is a father who is above every human father and he loves and pities his children in a way that no human father can ever do.

 

Believe that you can. And you will. A man is what his thoughts lead him to be. If you believe you can do anything well, you will do it well. We are the products of our thoughts. Whatever it is that you want to do, observe well and imitate bravely. You won't get it right immediately. But you eventually will, as long as you believe in yourself. But if you won't believe in yourself, nobody can do that for you.

 

When people reject you, they reveal more about themselves than they do about you. Accept their rejection, and learn from it not to repeat that in your own life. Be willing to accept others even when some of them reject you without even considering you.

 

When people reject you for no good reason you can think of, be glad that God accepts you while knowing everything about you.

 

God will always give you what is best for you. When you meet with disappointments in life remember this.

 

Not all my instincts are God-given. But some of them are. I need to find out what these are and hold on to them.

 

This is the ninth year of my speaking for God. I have used this voice for him. This voice, which was once not speaking for him, spoke for him eight years. My voice speaks out my thoughts concerning God. And these are my thoughts right now. No matter how much I think I am doing something, the truth is this: God is doing something in me. God is the one who keeps me going. And it is absolutely true that apart from him I can do nothing. My voice is God’s gift to me. My thoughts have been shaped by him in me. This desire to speak comes from him. So this is his work. In the ninth year I will convey the recognition of this spiritual truth: God is the reason why we his people do anything. And if we ever do anything profitable in this life, if we achieve anything substantial, if we do anything worthy in God’s eyes, the only reason for that is God himself.

 

Change is inevitable in life. One changes either for the better or for the worse. As we grow in years we change. Our patterns of thought change. Our approaches to life change. Has my approach to God changed over the years? I don’t think there has been a change in my approach to God. What has happened is that I have gradually realized that I am a work of God, that I am very much in his hands, that I am being shaped as the years go by. The passage of time is steadily moulding me into who I need to be. And this is what I need to be. I need to be a work of God. I need to believe that I am a work being done by God, being shaped in his hands.

 

God always answers prayers. But his answers are not always what we want them to be. When he grants our requests we have absolutely no problem with that. But when he denies our requests we should graciously accept his will and know that he does so because he has our best interests at heart. Sometimes God makes us wait for the thing we want. At these times we should be willing to wait patiently as long as it takes. For God knows best. And we should know that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sayings of Samuel Godfrey George - November 2015, Part 1

Sometimes in life fear and faith go together. Sometimes one does certain things in life because of fear. Sometimes one does certain things in faith because of fear. Even in what seems like faith there is fear. But we are told in the Bible that perfect love drives out fear and that the one perfected in love will not fear. There should be no fear in love. And the ultimate goal in life is to arrive at love. The ultimate desire of everyone who follows God is to know that love. So let those who wish to know the love of God not be afraid today. Let them not be afraid of God. Let them not be terrified of his judgement. But let them be aware of his love. And let them desire his love and receive his love and want to share it with others. Let what they do for God today be without fear. May what they do for God today be an act of love and purely an act of love.

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ. And Christ is the sublime expression of God’s love. Let those who celebrate Christmas bear this in mind. This Christmas let the focus be on the manner in which Jesus came into this world. Let his humble beginning in a stable in Bethlehem inspire us to prefer the humble and shun the lofty. Let us aspire to be ministers of God ministering to the people of God just as Jesus came into the world to minister to all of us. The birth of Christ should be celebrated as God’s splendid expression of love for a people who do not deserve it.

Jesus, the human form of God, was born in Bethlehem in a humble manner. He was born in a stable for no other place could be found. The first people who heard about his birth were poor shepherds. Joseph, the human adoptive father of Jesus was a carpenter, and he and his wife Mary were ordinary people. Jesus grew up to be a carpenter like Joseph. The birth and the life of Christ highlight God’s preference for the poor and the humble. God cares for the poor and has declared that the first will be the last, and the last will be the first in the Kingdom of God. Those who intend to follow God must therefore desire to be humble and poor. They must willingly be servants, for Christ has declared that the greatest in the Kingdom of God will be the servant of all.

What God created he can destroy. God created Man. Man disappointed God. God could have destroyed Man. Yet God did not destroy Man. He allowed him to live. Man lived, yet was separated from God because of his sins. Man was destined to go to hell. But God did not want Man to go to hell. Therefore, God decided to change the fate of Man. And Man’s fate could change only when he made atonement for his sins. The only atonement that could meet God’s requirement was the death of a righteous man. But a righteous man could not be found on earth. So God had to send that righteous man from heaven. His name was Jesus. He was the Son of God and he became human in order to be the atonement for the sins of Man. The Son of God is as much God as are the Father and the Holy Spirit, the other members of the Trinity. Thus God came down to earth to be born as the sinless man who would atone for Man’s sins. He did this because he loved Man and did not want to see him destroyed. Thus Jesus Christ is the expression of God’s love.

Children of Christ, come forward and celebrate the birth of your Lord and King. He gives you hope when there is only despair, peace when there is only war and joy when there is only sorrow. In him you will find lasting wealth, ultimate meaning and incorruptible beauty. May you find him this Christmas. May Christ be born in you.

Some question the origin of Christmas, and the appropriateness of its date. I do not find these questions relevant, as I believe that Christ was born in this world, and Christmas is a celebration of his birth, even if the date of his birth is historically inaccurate. The people of Christ have chosen to celebrate the birth of their Saviour at this time of the year. And I being one of them have no objection to that.

This Christmas I choose to welcome Christ into my life, and ask Him to be the Lord of all that I am and will be. There is much beauty and nobility in this act. There is no shame in acknowledging Christ as the Divine Ruler of my soul. He who is ashamed of God is not worthy of His love. Jesus is not only the Son of God. He is God. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are different aspects of the same God. There is no confusion in my mind regarding this.

Debate over Christ still rages today. Is Christ man or God? Was he single or married? Was Mary Magdalene his disciple or wife? Is the Bible the infallible word of God or a selective presentation of religious writings? These are not questions born of faith, and will not have any impact on those who believe in the word of God and in the Christ who is revealed in it. Those who reject the truth of the Lord and consider it foolishness may revise their thinking as I have done, or continue in their wisdom. I would rather believe in the foolishness of God.

The soul of Man was greatly damaged by the work of the devil. Only the Lord Jesus Christ can undo this damage. And this he will do only if he is allowed. The Lord will not have a man against his wishes. Let the people of Christ allow Christ to do his work in them. Let the one who belongs to Christ come forward and pledge his allegiance to his Lord. May he welcome the Christ and make him the Lord of his life.

Years later, Christ came to live with me, but these questions remain. The Lord has his secrets, and it is not good for Man to pry into them. Also I am informed that the foolishness of God is wiser than Man’s wisdom. Yet one thing is certain. The Lord is at war with the devil. Both are fighting for the soul of Man. And the soul of Man is in conflict. Often his heart is with the devil. But his mind desires the goodness of the Lord. The battle seems endless. But true faith perseveres, and this is faith: “the one who desires the Lord above everything else will find him someday. And the beauty of the Lord will gradually overcome the ugliness of the devil. The purpose of the Lord will dispel the meaninglessness of life. The love and the peace of the Lord will subdue the hatred and the violence in Man’s heart.”

Not many years ago I would not have mentioned the name Jesus without a hint of derision in my voice. Jesus was barely Lord, and his people barely sane. “What man of learning would believe in the nonsense that the follower of Christ was expected to believe?” I wondered. “Who would worship a God who apparently had no control over the world? How could the perfect God create the imperfect Man? And what divine wisdom lay in punishing Man for a sin that he could not have resisted? And why should God try to undo that punishment by his own death on the cross? What good came from the sacrifice of Christ? Did people change for the better? Did humans discover and express the divine in them? Did the people of the world desire the love of God? Did they seek his peace and joy?” And there were other questions. “Why does hatred and violence so often overwhelm love and peace? Why does conflict often triumph over harmony? Why is division more often the outcome than unity?”

Every year this world celebrates Christmas. Christmas is the time when we celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. At least those who believe in Christ celebrate his birth during this time. Others merely celebrate it as a holiday, as a fun day and a fun time just before the year ends. People come together and have fun. They celebrate their lives. They enjoy themselves. That's Christmas for them. For many children Christmas is the time when they remember Santa Claus or Father Christmas and the gifts that he brings. It's a time for receiving gifts.

Christmas is the time to celebrate the birth of hope for a generation without hope. It is the time for Man to receive the love of his God. And the love of God is Christ. Let not the believer in Christ take the Christ out of Christmas.

So what do the people of Christ seek to gain in the acknowledgement of the birth of Christ? The birth of Christ signifies the birth of spiritual life and the end of spiritual death. It is the supreme act of love of a Creator for his creation. So the coming of Christ into this world is an occasion for joy and hope to the one in pursuit of God. Remembering the birth of Christ is thus remembering the salvation that is promised through Christ.

What is the significance of the birth of Christ to the people of Christ? Do they not already know that Christ was born, that he lived in this world and that he died a cruel death to atone for the sins of the many generations of Man? The man Christ has come and gone. What he came to do in the world was accomplished when he was nailed to the cross. The people whom he came to save were saved provided they accepted the supreme sacrifice of their Lord and the one who sent him to them. Now Christ has returned to his glory, and his salvation is not received without effort. Whoever desires the salvation of Christ, and whoever wishes to inherit the Kingdom of God must accept Christ as his Lord and Saviour, and the one who sent him to us. And the one who sent him to save us is his Father, Jehovah the Almighty. And one cannot accept either without the help of another, the Spirit of the Most High who resides in the heart of every believer. One must accept the Lord in his three forms: Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, in order to receive salvation.

Trust in God to show you where you need to go. And he won't let you down.

This is the truth that we call the Lord Jesus Christ. When we see him, we see the one who sent him. We didn’t know the one who sent him. This world didn’t know God. But Jesus came into the world to reveal God to us. He is the Christ. He is the Messiah, who came in a way in which no one expected him to come, and who went away in a way in which no one expected him to go away. Everything about him was remarkable. This is the Christ that we will remember during this Christmas. He defies our expectations. His love is beyond description. His grace is beyond belief. He loves us beyond measure. He forgives all our sins. This is Jesus. And he represents God. When we see Jesus we see God.

During this Christmas season, I have this message to convey to the world: we have certain expectations of God. We believe that we know God. Those who have studied God, those who have read about him have this idea that they can work out God. Jesus proved to everyone that God’s mind cannot be worked out. He was an exceptional manifestation; he was a shocking manifestation of God. One of his own disciples asked him at a certain time, “Show us the Father”. And Jesus said, “How can you even ask such a thing? The one who has seen me has seen the Father.”

The message of the Lord Jesus Christ was nothing like the message that was preached by people before him. It was remarkable. He preached forgiveness. He preached loving one's enemies. He preached that people should bless their enemies and pray for their enemies. This is a remarkable message. One doesn’t hear this message in anything that came before the Lord Jesus Christ.

At Christmas time, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, who is also the Christ. Let us throw away all preconceived notions regarding God. We have a certain understanding of God, and we expect him to work in a certain way. But God didn’t do that two thousand years ago. Though Jesus fulfilled many prophecies during his lifetime, his entry into the world was not at all glorious. He was born in very humble circumstances. He was born to very humble people. Except for the three wise men who visited and honoured him, all the others who came to see him were humble and poor people. When we consider that he came very humbly into this world, that he was born in a place where animals were fed, and that he was born to a carpenter, and a woman, who became pregnant before her marriage, we are aware that these are not ideal circumstances in which the greatest human is born. God defied human expectations when Jesus Christ was born. And he continues to defy human expectations to this day.

So Jesus said to the people who questioned his status as the Messiah, “You know me only superficially. But there is something about me that you don’t know. I came from a certain person. And you don’t know that person who sent me. I have seen him.” Jesus was referring to God the Father. He claimed that God the Father sent him to the world, and that the people who questioned his status as the Messiah, didn’t know God the Father.

We read in the Bible, in the Gospel of John that some people who lived in Jerusalem had this question: “Could our leaders possibly believe that he is the Messiah? But how could he be? For we know where this man comes from. When the Messiah comes he will simply appear. No one will know where he comes from.” So they had it worked out. They had a certain notion of God. They expected God to do a certain thing. They expected God to send the Messiah in a certain way. They expected the Messiah to appear out of nowhere. So they couldn’t accept the Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah because they knew where he came from. Jesus understood their thoughts and said to them, “Yes you know me. And you know where I come from. But I’m not here on my own. The one who sent me is true and you don’t know him. But I know him because I come from him, and he sent me to you.”

Jesus Christ - have you heard that name? Do you know what that name means? Jesus was his original name. And then he was called the Christ. Do you know what that means? Christ means the Messiah. Do you know what is meant by the term, “the Messiah”? The Messiah is a divine figure, who was prophesied to enter the world and save the people of God. Is this Jesus, who was born two thousand years ago, the Messiah? Is this Jesus the Christ? Some people think so. Others have their doubts.

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, according to some people. Churches are beautifully decorated during Christmas. People are well dressed and smiling and happy. But in the country where I live there is a disturbing feature about Christmas. When I attended the Christmas morning service, I saw throngs of poor people outside the church. They are known as beggars. Their aim is to receive help from those who emerge from the church after the service. I saw plenty of poor people outside. And many of them did receive help from those who came out of the church. Still I could not help but wonder what kind of giving this was. Did people give because they were expected to give on a day when the birth of their Lord is celebrated? Or did they give because it was a spiritual act of gratitude to God for all the gifts that they received from him? Were they giving superficially or were they giving out of an enormous burden of gratitude? And would their giving go on beyond Christmas Day?

Why do we give? Do we give because we feel sorry for the poor? Do we give because we are expected to give? Do we give because we feel that our giving pleases God? Many times I have given because I had this impression that God would be pleased with my giving. At other times I have given because I thought that this was expected of me. But now I realize that I need to give because I have received. Jesus said, "Freely you have received. Freely give." There can be no greater reason for giving.

There is a disturbing feature regarding Christmas: a lot of poor people are outside churches and not all of them can be helped. What does Christ expect his followers to do on Christmas? Is it to wear beautiful clothes? Is it to attend these churches that look so wonderfully decorated? Is it merely to smile at one another and wish one another? What about this disturbing picture outside the churches? Who are these poor people? Do we really care about them? What is our relationship with them? What do we intend to do about them? Do we give to them because we would feel better as a result? Do we feel better after giving? Or do we feel obligated to give?

If we have done something wrong, then let us not make excuses for our mistake and defend our fault. Let us admit that we are wrong and attempt to make amends for our wrongdoing.

If you are person who came to Christ in a moment of need, and if Christ answered your prayer and saved you from trouble, then you should stay with Christ and make him your Lord and Saviour.

Despite weakness and disturbance, I have done a work consistently in the last 8 years and more. I don't believe that I was self-motivated.

When King Solomon warned humanity not to lean on human understanding, he was not implying that we should never try to understand anything, or we should be afraid of sharing our understanding of life with others. He simply meant that we must trust God in matters that go beyond human understanding. We must accept his ultimate goodness and greatness in situations where God seems anything but good and great. We were given brains so that we might work certain things out. We were given the power to understand, so that we might discover certain truths in a way in which no book can ever reveal to us. If we fail to understand, we fail to live optimally. If we are scared to share our understanding with people, we reveal a fundamental discomfort with the faculty of thought that God richly bestowed on us. It is the very thing that separates Man from the beast. King Solomon knew this well and did not hesitate to reveal his knowledge to us, which he understood with the grace God gave him.

God gave you an understanding so that you might share it with someone who does not have it. He did not give you the insight so that you might be terrified of sharing it with people, in case it contradicts a prevailing world view. No one has understood anything completely. We are still piecing things together, and we may be doing it as long as humanity inhabits this world. Human knowledge will never rise to the level where we can totally get into the mind of the one who brought everything into existence.

It is indeed possible for God to make the crooked straight. But for that to happen the crooked must admit its crookedness and desire the transformation that only God can bring about.

Give thanks for what is good. Don't be disturbed by what is bad. The good and the bad will always coexist as long as you are alive in this world.

We are told that we are made in the image of God. What exactly is God-like about us? In the course of life, we discover that the deepest need we have is the need to receive love, and next to this is our need to love others. Despite who else we are and what else we seek in this world, our search for love is our primal need. We want love as God wants love. We need to love as God needs to love. It is in this way above all we are made in the image of God.

When God told us to love one another as we love ourselves it was a very difficult thing for us to do. It still remains difficult and even impossible. It is difficult for one to love oneself, for there is much to dislike in oneself. It is even more difficult to love another person, who may remind us of our own failings or reveal greater failings that we are eager to condemn. We are so disgusted with ourselves and others that we cannot even consider the idea of loving ourselves or others. But when we consider how God could love us despite the terrible creatures that we were, we learn from that and receive his love gratefully without being reluctant to share it with others.

To love like God one must be willing to have one's love rejected and even trampled and still be willing to give love to whoever welcomes it.

God came down to the world to love all people. But not all people received his love. Even today there are many who turn away from God's love. Jesus Christ is still someone not many are willing to accept. His love does not seem like love to them. His salvation appears unnecessary to them.

When you want to love people, you will try to know them. And you will find out that some people don't want to be known by you, and don't want anything to do with you. If you accept this and respect their choice, and move on to someone else who accepts your love, you have indeed learned an important lesson in the art of loving.

In loving people one will have to learn to deal with indifference and rejection.

I am thankful to God for two gifts that arrived in my life recently. One is a new water heater, an absolutely crucial requirement at this time of the year, and a great boon to the elderly people who live with me. The other is a Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2 TB external drive, absolutely vital for backing up all the video work that I have done in the last 8 years and more. God made both of these possible at a time when we needed them the most. Truly he is a God who answers prayers and meets needs at the right time. I praise my God today.

Don't be afraid of the black. It is where you came from. And don't go too close to the white. That is not something you can tolerate as long as you are in the world. For total whiteness is both unattainable and undesirable in this world. Black must be juxtaposed with white. Black must marry white so that this life is neither total blackness nor total whiteness. And a hybrid life must spring forth from this union, a blend of the wisdom of black and the purity of white. For only the black can totally reveal the beauty of the white. Only the black can fully enjoy the white.

Sometimes white is hidden behind the black. At other times there is a layer of black beneath the white. Somehow black and white must commingle and coexist, for this life to go on meaningfully. We humans cannot handle an interminable day and an unending light. We need to wrap ourselves with the black after we have gazed long at the light. The black lulls us for a while and then creates fresh desire for the white. This cycle of black and white will go on as long as human bodies last. For our souls cannot withstand eternal light as long as they are wrapped up in worldly flesh.

Black and white lying side by side is an irresistible sight. I think black belongs with white, and white can never be seen in its entirety without black alongside it. It is night that makes us eager for the day. The day will mean less to us without the night. The possibilities of the day are heightened by the disabilities of the night. So black must go along with white, as long as this life in this body in this place goes on.

I notice today that a certain blackness has been allowed to mingle with the white. Black and white have to merge together to form a unique blend. Black must add to the white, just as white must lighten the black. Sometimes I try to separate the two, and observe the futility of such an act. Such blends are a divine pattern and they will continue as long as life in this bodily form goes on. The sooner one is comfortable with it, the more productive one would be in doing something good in this world, despite the overwhelming darkness within and around.

I’m experiencing an Internet connectivity problem this morning. And I was just unable to convey my wishes to a friend on her anniversary. I have said in the past that it is in a state of present disability that one is acutely aware of past ability. So today in reduced ability I am able to acknowledge the many times I was able to post messages to the people in this world, about what God has placed in my heart. Today once more I notice that I have been given a mind that does not fail to notice the white in the black.

Maybe humans are two-faced. But as long as they admit their essential wretchedness and seek Jesus as their only way of escape from this wretchedness, the two faces merge into one.

As long as a man admits his weakness and his inability without God, he cannot be fake.

We love God. But we don't want to love like God.

To like God and to be like God are two different things. We like what God stands for. Yet we are reluctant to stand up for what God cares about. We are all selfish, and we care more about ourselves than we do about others.

Some people ignore God because they don't see the need for him.

I pray for those who are in need and who are calling out to God. I pray for your desperate children, who need a way out immediately. God, have mercy on your people, and help them quickly. You alone are the help of the helpless. Please abide with your children today and show them that you are God. In Jesus' name. Amen.

You cannot put a price on what you give from what you received freely from God.

The best thing one can do for people is to accept them just as they are and admire them for their good qualities, without being critical of their shortcomings. If we wish to point out the mistakes of others, let us keep two things in mind. Let us remember our own failings, and then let us consider the faults of others gently and sensitively.

There are some battles that I will not fight, though I can easily win them. I prefer to fight the truly worthy ones.

Always pray about everything. Say to God, "This is what I want. But let your will be done." And mean it when you say it.

If you ask God for something and get it, praise God. If you don't, still praise God. God is good no matter what the outcome of your asking is. Bear this ultimate truth in mind, and it will become clearer to you in time.

Our capacity to love is very limited, and our capacity to forgive is even more limited, when compared to God.

God is the only one that repeat offenders can go to. He is the only one who can forgive and accept the repeatedly disloyal heart. A human being is simply not equipped to do such a thing. That is why many human beings will not give you a second chance.

Don't do anything if you don't know what to do. Just speak to God. And say, "Lead me somewhere. Take my hand and get me out of this rut."

The Lord gives and the Lord takes it away. May the name of the Lord be praised. So said Job. So say we.

Sometimes God denies the very thing we ask. He has his reasons. We may not understand his reasons. We may not even agree with his reasoning. But God knows best. He certainly does. This we must not doubt. He has our best interests at heart. And let us not forget this. He will not withhold any good thing from us.

Your job is not to make sense of what you cannot understand. Be content to know this. God is with you. And he is for you. And if you trust him now, he will take you to the next place of rest. Will you trust God today?

Give up trying. Say to God, "I'm giving myself to you. Take care of me. Please comfort me and give me strength to move on." You will get through this.

Say, "YES I CAN GET OVER THIS. GOD IS WITH ME. AND HE WILL TAKE CARE OF ME. I AM IN HIS HANDS. AND HE WILL NOT LET ME GO." Believe and then speak. You will be well.

You have a God who loves you. So be glad. You are alive. And there is a purpose for your life. God has a plan for you. Look out through your window and see the world around you. Rejoice in what God has done. Get up my child. Enjoy what you have.

A person who can live without you is a person whom you can live without.

Human love rarely lasts. Accept what you lost graciously and move on. It won't be easy. It may even look impossible. But you should know that there are others out there who need your love. Love them without expectation. That is the greatest love.

Think of those who love you. They want you to go on. One person should not weaken you so much. Love is very strong. But you must take care that you don't love a person so much that you cannot be without him or her.

Tears are for a purpose, and when they serve that purpose, one needs to move on. Cry for a while. Then you must move on.

You will get over your loss. God is with you. And he will help you. Say to him, "Lord, I need you now. Please comfort me with your love. And don't leave my side."

If someone has left you, allow him or her to go. If that person is meant to come back to you, it will happen. But you must go on, and meet other people in your life.

The only one who saves your life is God. And the humans through whom God works to rescue you are only agents that carry out his divine will. So don't mourn over the human who left you suddenly. She may have gone. But God is still there. And he will save you again.

If someone you love has left you,then believe that it is God's will, and accept it humbly, though it is painful. God is always there beside you. And that's what matters most.

The only one you cannot be without is God. People come and people go. When people go, it shows the inconstancy of human comfort. There is only one constant presence in life. He is with you and he is God. And he knows how to make you happy again. So cheer up and smile at the one who is always with you.

Tears are for a purpose, and when they serve that purpose, one needs to move on.

Appreciate an old friend today. Appreciate anyone today. Just send a positive vibe to someone today.

Don't give up the privilege of being able to think of someone today. Think of someone and pray for that person, even as you yourself need that person's thoughts and prayers.

If you are in trouble, pray for someone else who is also in trouble. If you are in bondage, pray for someone else who is also in bondage. Just think of someone else and bless him or her, even as you suffer and struggle in your own life.

May those who cannot hear in the natural hear what God speaks to them in their hearts. May those who cannot see in the natural see what God shows them in their hearts. Our disabilities will melt in the place where God alone can touch us.

It is such a privilege to bless someone. Bless someone today. Bless everyone today.

Trusting in God's limitless compassion is better than fearing his wrathful judgement. Relying on Christ's righteousness is better than trying to merit God's gifts by human effort. We are called to be free and good, but we can be neither without God's help. We should live without fear and anxiety, confident that God has us firmly in his grasp.

Look at the new thing God is doing in you. Don't look at the old that is still leering at you. The past is past no matter how much it wriggles inside you. With God the present and the future are all that matters.

We are all selfish, and we are all products of the devil. But the more we fall in love with God and unite with him in the deepest way, our essential evil will not be able to remain victorious in us.

What you think is defeat may actually be victory. What you think is weakness may actually be strength.

If you show as much confidence in God's ability as you do in the devil's ability, God may do even more for you than he is doing now.

Don't focus on the devil and be afraid of what he is up to in your life. Focus on God and rejoice in what he is doing in your life.

Don't try to chase the devil away. Run after God till you find him, and the devil will not be there with you at the end.

See God in others. That's the best way to respect them.

Love people. But love them for who they are and not for what you can get from them.

Mastery over life consists in living it relaxedly, without anxiety and fear, expecting the best to happen.

If you have a functional body take time to give thanks for it. If you have a dysfunctional body, give thanks for the parts of your body, which are still functional. In both cases give thanks to God, for without him you will have neither a body nor a soul to keep that body alive.

Let us seek God with love in our hearts. Let us yearn for his presence. This is the key to our knowing God and receiving from him. We need to love God. When we love God, we will be firmly rooted in our faith, and we will overcome the doubts that assail us.

Will our faith endure the test of suffering? Let us ask God for faith, as faith cannot be humanly produced. Not only should we ask God for faith, but we should also read about faith. And faith comes by hearing, and hearing from the word of God. We should read the Bible daily. We should ask the Holy Spirit to enable us to understand God’s message.

Many of us believe in God. Many of us say that we will do anything for God. Many of us speak glowingly of God. But when the tough times come, will we continue to speak like that about God? Will we continue to believe in him? Will we continue to place our trust in him? We have to answer these questions experientially.

People who lose their faith in a time of great suffering may not have had any faith to start with. Faith should stand the test of suffering. When we get into faith, we get into something very challenging. Faith is not only for a happy day, but it is also for a very sad day. Faith is genuinely tested only on a sad day.

We don't discover God in us until we exhaust every bit of the self in us. When we try and try and fail and fail, there comes a point in our lives when we must face the unbelievable truth. There is in us a presence so great and so potent, an unimaginable force that brought all things into being and raised Jesus Christ from the dead. This force is living within us and is available to us if we would only turn to him in total surrender and complete acceptance of our own inability to do anything without God. And this power within us is God. And when we discover his power in us, what seemed unshakeable in our lives will begin to shake and fall to the ground.

God has equipped us with everything we need to live a life for him. When we discover this we will have control over our adverse circumstances. And we will be able to do the things that we never thought possible.

Today is the last day of your trouble if you want it so. Do you want to be out of trouble? Do you want to be better? These are the questions God is asking you today.

God understands you. You don't need the understanding of people. People may never understand you. But God knows your burden and he is willing to carry it for you if only you would let him. But as long as you are determined to carry your own burden, he cannot help you.

It is hard to understand a person who is determined to cry always.

When God is with you, you are wealthier than the wealthiest person in this world. And when God has blessed you with people to love and people who love you, you are even wealthier. If you feel like crying about your misfortunes, try to smile about your fortunes. And God is your great fortune. And the people whom you love and the people who love you are your other fortunes.

Our religions ultimately will not matter if we believe in the same God. And there is only one God. And he revealed himself to us as Jesus Christ. And he loved us to the point of dying for our sins.This is the bedrock of belief, and the fountain-head of salvation.

Believe this. Your God is more than capable of dealing with your problems. He is an expert at it. And though he takes time he is surely achieving a great work in you. He is transforming you from within. And this is not easy to see as it is being done. But be certain of this. He is working in you. And one day you will plainly see how utterly he has transformed you.

Don't wait to happy. Be happy now, for God is with you. And though there are problems in your life, the presence of God outweighs them all. Believe this and smile.

I, Samuel Godfrey George, have emerged as "The Voice" created by God for God. I am happily commanded to glorify the name of the Lord God Jesus Christ, the Son of the Almighty Jehovah. I am stirred by the Spirit of the Most High to present my readings of the Bible to a world that needs to hear the Word of God again and again. So here I come in Christ to convey His love through my voice. To those who hear it, I say, "May God bless you with eternal life. May He grant you His peace and His joy. May His perfect love cast out all your fears. And may you be more than conquerors in Him."

Often our theories regarding God are at best guesses. And our guessing can be wrong. Jesus Christ proved that many years ago when he dismantled many false conceptions of God. The God that he revealed is very unlike the God of the Old Testament. And there may be more of God that remains to be revealed. This is my guess.

God is ready to forgive as long as you are ready to repent. God understands your weakness, and has more sympathy for you than you imagine. He wants you to be free, and he will do anything to help you achieve that freedom. Please believe in God's limitless mercy and boldly approach his throne of grace today.

If you've been waiting for God, and if you've waited long, don't put an end to your waiting now. You must keep waiting for God. Continue to cry out to him. Tell him, "Lord, it's been so long. And it's so hard. I need some relief."

We must wait for God. And God will turn up eventually. But if we won't wait, there is really no hope for us.

Sayings of Samuel Godfrey George - October 2015, Part 2

Under which umbrella do I do my evangelism, someone wondered. I respond only to God, only to Jesus Christ his Son, only to the Spirit of God residing in me. I'm under God alone.

If we do our part, which is praising, then God will do His part, which is blessing. Let us not forget to thank God today. Let us not forget His many acts of love and kindness in our lives. Let us acknowledge the goodness of God today.

A man should improve himself, but not without the help of God.

You may try to work on yourself. You may try to complete what God started. But you will fail again and again. And you will not be able to rest.

Remember this always. God will never leave or forsake you.

You don't believe in God and then wonder whether he'll help. Such an attitude is not belief.

You are a work of God. So don't even try to meddle with God's work.

Don't be hard on yourself. God accepts you just as you are.

If we believe in God, then let's do it well. Let's believe without uncertainty.

Don't hurry. God is at work in you.

We will be friends. Language is no barrier to friendship and kindness. Let us learn together.

To believe in a god who does not care for human beings is an ultimately worthless belief. Such belief may provide intellectual satisfaction but it will fetch no other reward to the one who professes it.

If you believe in a god who does not care about you and will not interfere in the affairs of your life, then such a god is both irrelevant and unworthy of your worship.

A god who does not care about human beings, or does not intervene in human affairs does not require human worship.

An uncertain faith is no faith at all. Those who are uncertain about God have nothing to gain from him.

It is liberating not to be tied to human approval. One should work as though nobody is watching. One should work happily even if nobody is watching. This alone is supreme performance.

This life on earth is a life with pain. Yet let this pain not depress us. Let this pain not rob us of hope. We have hope. We who believe in God have hope. Despite pain and suffering in this life, we have the hope that we will inherit a painless life with God. Let us cling to this hope. Meanwhile, let us live this painful life without complaints. God is with us, and he has promised to help us. Let us go through this pain. God allows pain because we rebelled against him and brought this pain upon ourselves. God has not abandoned us. Far from that, he is with us. And he has promised to be with us all the time. We will one day live with God. Until then, let us go through this pain with a smile.

When we are obsessed with the things of this world we are trapped in various bondages. God calls us to taste a certain freedom.We are called by Jesus Christ to live a life in which we are free to enjoy the beautiful things of the world without being addicted to them. Shall we respond to this call today and enjoy this freedom?

Let my heart always desire you above everything else. Let me seek you always. Let me delight in everything you are, and let me walk away from everything you are not. Let me rest in your shadow forever.

My way is the way of Christ. His way is the way of love. I was called by love to love. In love all my sins were washed away. By love I am being transformed from glory to glory. Through love I walk daily. Love is my way.

I belong to God right now, flaws and warts and all. God lives in me right now though there is much in me that is still wrong. I will not be dismayed by what I am not. I will rejoice in what I am.

My gorgeous laptop is sitting on my lap right now. My room is cooled well by my new and able air conditioner. Last year I was without a computer for three months. This year I was without an air conditioner for three months. There was a moment when I thought that neither will be available to me. But now I have them both and my fingers are caressing the keyboard as my mind dictates its thoughts to it. I feel blessed right now. But my blessings are many more.

I am troubled by me. That is why I go to God.

With God I will go forward no matter how often I look backward. This is my great hope.

Am I a pastor? I am led by God. This is what I think. If I ever lead anyone to God, it will not be my doing. I am an instrument in God's hands. And I am a rather troublesome instrument. I don't think my life is a shining example of God's craftsmanship. I am terribly flawed. But God may see me differently. This is what I hope.

I believe many people ask this question. Why does God seem silent sometimes? Why does it look as though he does not care? The Bible says, “Cast all your cares on God, for he cares for you.” The truth is this. God cares. And he cares for all of us. And this is the truth that we must hold on to in difficult times. And if you are wondering whether God cares, the answer to that question is very simple. It is very definite. God cares. He cares for you. He cares for all of us. Then why is he silent? Why does he not help? Why does he not reach out and help me? Trust in God. Believe that he has a reason for being silent. Believe that he is working. Believe that he is working behind the scenes for you. Believe that he is about to do something good in your life. And go on in that belief.

May God be with you. May God be with all of us. He is with all of us. May we receive help from him very soon. Yes, let us keep on waiting. God will not fail us. God bless you.

Does God not care? That’s the question that is on the mind of some people. I myself have reflected on this question. There are times in my life when God seems absent. There are times when God doesn’t seem to care. There are times when I feel like screaming out. And maybe I have screamed out to God. Maybe I have shouted out those questions. “Do you not care? Do you not care about us? Do you not care about me? Will you not help? Why are you silent?” I have asked these questions. For many years I have found myself in a hole. I asked God, “Do you not want to rescue me? Why are you still waiting? Why have you not responded to my cry for help? Why have you not swiftly rescued me from this terrible place?”

Don't be afraid to love today. Don't be reluctant to be kind today. Don't be sparing with your smile today. Give generously from the joy that God has placed in your heart.

To resist sin and crime one must see God in everyone, especially in the person one intends to offend.

The potential murderer or thief or rapist or child-molester will not carry out his intention if he sees Jesus Christ in the person he wishes to offend.

See God in the other person, and you will not hurt him or her.

Honour you father and mother is purportedly a God-spoken truth. I see the need for it in my own life. But will a person who is sexually molested by his parent see the need to honour his or her parent? Will a person who is physically abused by a parent to the point of being murdered see the need to honour that parent? Should a parent who actually murders his children receive honour? Isn't honour a thing to be deserved? Should dishonourable people be honoured? Should a parent who is determined to wreck the life of her child be honoured? I see no need for it. Yet it is wise to trust in God and not depend on one's own understanding as far as honouring one's parents are concerned.

The love for God is a thing of the heart. You belong to God in your heart, and no human symbol can alter that. I met a man who turned to Christianity. He removed the symbols that marked his allegiance to a former faith. Subsequently he was ostracised from his family and had to live without adequate means. I told him to return to his family and be whatever he was required to be to survive in this world. I said to him, "Your love for God is a thing of the heart. You belong to him in the innermost place. He knows that you belong to him, and nothing shall separate you from him. No symbol of your previous faith, even if you should wear it again to appease your family members, will separate you from God. Love God and do whatever you have to do to survive."

What is the use of reading the Bible from cover to cover without knowing how to treat a fellow human being with compassion and love? What is the use of the knowledge of God's word if there is no love in the human heart? Everything is meaningless if a human fails to love. The Bible makes this very clear. The goal then is not to know the Bible thoroughly, but to know the love that God wants us to have. If we fail to know this we fail to know everything.

If a husband were to remove the ring from his finger will he stop being a husband? Will the removal of symbolic things mean that the inner truth has been erased? A husband and his wife are bound by love and the promise they made before God. No symbolic thing can alter the oneness of a man and a woman held together by God in marriage. Let the world not pay attention to symbols but let it pay attention to the mutual love and the reverence for God that keep two people together.

What is a sacred thing? It is not a bundle of paper bound in leather and coated with gilt. It is not a translation of an ancient text authorised by a human king. It is not words written down be men in divine inspiration. The sacred thing is man himself. A sacred thing is a beggar in rags. A scantily clad mendicant with leprous sores is a sacred thing. The little drooling child extending her hand to me for help is a sacred thing. The image of God is stamped deeply in each and every one of us. The sooner we recognize God in each other, the sooner we will know the truth, which will set us free from the bonds of selfish hatred and pointless desire. Let all our worship be centred in love that we show to one another. Let us not revere a thing. Let us revere the image of God in each and every one of us.

They say that the devil will be scared if you do what the Bible tells you to do. This is what I say. The Bible tells you to do many things, and some of these things we will not do today, because if we do so we will be considered barbaric and insane. It is important to grasp the main message of the Bible. And it is this. God loves us. And he wants us to love him and love other human beings. And if we can love God and people we will meet the supreme requirement on which all other requirements depend. So it is important for us to learn to love. And we need to be trained to love. Only God can teach us to love, and if we ever learn from him, our love will be a repulsive thing to the devil. The moment we learn to love, the devil will find us most incompatible.

There was a time in my life when I carried my Bible everywhere I went. I thought that God was with me as long as my Bible was near me. Now I see God in places outside the Bible. Now I see God in everything and everyone. I see God in all people, especially in very flawed ones. I see God everywhere, especially in unexpected places. And I am not surprised anymore. The whole earth belongs to God, and everyone and everything is a work of his hands.

Some say, "Do what the Bible says". I say, "Do what God says to you in the deepest part of your heart. To hear God you should study the mind and observe the heart of God. The Bible is a starting point for this. But you should go beyond the Bible and observe the world. You should observe with compassion always willing to bear with the inadequacies of others, just as you want others to bear with your own. You should be willing to tolerate differences and accept people just as they are. And you should learn to love like God without the intent to receive something in return. And if you ever achieve this you will not only hear God but you will also see God in yourself.

Working full-time for God was not something that I wanted to do. If I had remained true to my shallow self I would not have even spoken for God. But deep within me I saw a madness that I first knew as a child, after I saw God in a dream. From this madness came a daring to walk into many snake-infested, man-forsaken thickets, with a camera in my hand, determined to speak as spontaneously as possible about a faith that has proven to be rather costly. Yet it is a faith that I have held on to despite affliction and deprivation. It is a faith that keeps me going in a manner that defies understanding.

Learn from your past. But don't be condemned by it.

Everyone has a past that he or she regrets. Because none of us is perfect none of us has a mistake-free past. So the challenge for each one of us is to learn from the past without being adversely affected by it. The past can potentially construct or destroy us. What we let it do is entirely up to us.

Know this and say this: "the world and its desires will pass away. My worldly desires will pass away. And no matter how strong their grip on me is right now, one day I will walk away from them unharmed. I will walk into the arms of God without turning back to look at what I left behind. No desire of this world will hold me back when God holds me in his arms. And what seemed untameable will finally be tamed by God's overpowering love."

You may wonder about this contradictory experience. You fail every day in dealing with your temptation, yet you have already conquered it in Jesus Christ. This is the nature of the fight. The outcome is already known. Christ is the victor, and you have triumphed in him. Yet you must fail every day to know your own inability to overcome what only Christ can overcome. And he has already overcome that two thousand years ago. Now you must believe in this, and let this struggle go. You cannot struggle beyond the point of realising that it is hopeless to struggle. But you must fight the impulse to disbelieve. Don't ever give up believing in God even if the struggle is so fierce that you think you will never come out of it.

Are you struggling with sin? Are you overpowered by desire? Are you unable to resist the craving? Then know this. There is a God beside you. There is a God who overcame these desires for you. Find your strength in him and never rely on your own strength. You will never defeat these desires until you let him defeat them in you. And he will not be able to do that until you surrender to his mastery and acknowledge your dire need of him. And even if you should fall many times into the same temptation, remember that you have already overcome them in Jesus Christ, your Lord and Saviour.

So to turn to God we must turn away from the world. To love him we must hate the world. And we cannot run to God without running away from the world. Our destiny with God may be certain, but our path to him is a long and torturous one.

So our prayer every day should be, "God, please let me love what you love and hate what you hate." And we must keep saying this prayer even when we love what God hates and hate what God loves. And we must believe that no matter how hopeless it looks, God will answer our prayer someday.

Many of us turn our faces to God with our hearts still turned to the world. We soon discover we cannot make any significant headway to God when our hearts are still desiring the world. Our hearts must stop desiring the world and they will not do that until those desires turn repulsive.

To turn to God you must turn away from the world. And you cannot turn away from the world till its enticements wear off. You should taste the joys of the earth until they cloy in your heart. When those joys turn into lasting pains, that is when your heart will turn to God.

The world and its desires will pass away. But till then you will nearly have to drown in them. You must drink deep from the cup of the earth until you can drink no more. Only when you taste the repulsiveness of your earthly joys can you truly turn away from them.

The path to joy is not without pain. The path to knowledge is not without folly. You must suffer temporarily to enjoy permanently. You must make mistakes before you learn to do something correctly. You must fall down many times before you learn to walk properly.

Know that the temporary joy leads to lasting pain. Know that the temporary pain leads to lasting joy. Know this first. Study the futility of all that glitters momentarily. In grasping these, their joy slips through your hands and falls into the ground and becomes slime. You should not grab at these things forever. Yet you must grab at them for a while till you realize that they will never bring joy.

Today search for what will endure and bring you joy to the very end. Don't waste your day in gathering what will slip through your hands and fall into the ground and become slime.

Why God allows evil is something that God alone knows. But that does not prevent humans from guessing why such a thing happens. Perhaps God allows evil to get humans to desire good. The presence of evil makes humans seek God desperately..

I have looked at the external beauty of a human again and again. Admirable as it is how can it ever satisfy the longing for true beauty, the one that lies within a person?

What is man's testimony to me, even if he were to call me great? I am little. I know it and I am content with it.

If I were silenced today it will be a happy silence. For I have made the best possible use of speech.

God will not abandon. I should know that by now.

I say to myself today, "If God is for me, who can be against me? Why should I fear when God is with me? He will be with me in trouble and will ultimately deliver me from it. God uses trouble only to strengthen my faith and deepen my trust in Him. When His purposes are fulfilled, He will order the trouble to leave me. I will never be alone. Thank you God for promising to stay with me always, especially in trouble. Even when I walk towards death I will not fear, for I know that You are with me. I will not be intimidated by the difficulties in life, for I know that You have overcome the world, and as I am in You, I too have overcome the world. In fact I am more than a conqueror and I can do all things through Christ. Nothing is impossible for me when God is with me."

God is a giver. And if I want to be like God I should give. I cannot love God without loving the people He created. And I love another by giving something of value that is needed.

Miracles are bound to happen to those who are looking for them in the right place and from the right source. The right place is Jesus. The right source is God.

I'm glad that God gave me eight years to speak about what He has done with me, and what He can do with you. Even if I don't have another moment to do that again I can rest peacefully.

Let God supply the needs of His people today. He has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted ones. Be comforted, for your Lord WILL provide.

Sometimes when God blessed me I didn't even wait in expectation. My greatest blessing came when God led me to my father just before his death. God inspired me to apologize to my dad for many years of disrespect and coldness. This came at a time when I didn't even pray about our troubled relationship. Isn't it awe-inspiring to realize that God cares more than we do about the most important things in our lives?

God exposes your weaknesses not to shame you but to show you how much you need him.

May I persevere today. May I walk by faith and not by sight because what I see frightens me. What I see discourages me. Therefore I must walk by faith in the One who promised never to forsake me and leave me alone. “God, You called me to do this work. Be with me, stand by me and help me do this work. And help me take the next step. Help me move on to the next thing in my life. Help me face the next challenge in my life. Let me believe in You today. Let me trust in You today. Amen."

Faith is confidence in God. It is calm and restful. Where there is no calm and rest there cannot be faith.

I am privileged to be in a place where I am driven to say to God, "Please have mercy on me."

May the people who serve God do so sincerely. May they serve Him wholeheartedly. May God remember His servants today. May God remember their prayers. And may God provide for all His people. May God provide for His servants, who look to Him, who are dependent on Him. May God not forget His servants today. This is my prayer. Amen

A life without suffering on earth may lead us to the wrong conclusion. There is something fundamentally wrong with us and suffering points us to a great deficiency. We are deficient. We are without God. And we cannot be sufficient without God. So suffering directs us to God, and the more we suffer the more we run to God.

Whatever God allows he allows for a reason that he alone knows best. When God allows suffering he does that for an eventual good. And though we may see no immediate benefit in suffering, some of us actually see good emerging from suffering at a later time. God alone knows why suffering is ultimately beneficial not only to us in particular but also to his kingdom in general.

In the absence of constancy we seek the only one who is constant. Because of the inconstancy of humans we seek the constant non-human. And thus we seek God. And we cannot be happy till we find him.

There is not a single constant one in human form in this world. The only constant one is non-human. He is God.

Don't be surprised by the inaccurate science in the Bible. But be surprised by its accurate reading of human nature. Despite many advances in science and technology, human nature remains essentially the same. And it is best understood by reading the Bible.

Don't be disturbed by what is in the Bible. But be disturbed by what is in your heart.

Unless you are taught, rebuked, corrected and trained in righteousness by interacting with the word of God you will not be equipped to do the tasks that God wants you to do. To get into the place where you can work for God you must undergo a training, and this is possible only when you study the Bible and let its truth transform you.

Those who seek public approval for their charitable acts will receive no reward from God. Human applause is the only reward they will receive.

I am not performing for God. I am being swept away by him to places where I need to go.

The one says, "Show me God, and then I will believe in him" has no desire to see God or believe in him.

Why are we looking for God? Let us ask ourselves this question today. Do we seek him for his blessings? Do we seek him for success and prosperity? Or do we seek him because we are utterly empty without him? Do we seek him because we cannot live in any purposeful way without him? Do we seek him because we will ultimately perish without him? Why do we seek God?

Don't seek God's blessings before you seek God. When you find God you will also find his blessings.

Search for God for without him you are nothing.

To have faith in God one must have faith in nothing else. One must reach a place where there is no one but God. It is in that place God will meet Man.

Those who believe in God are those who need him. Because they need God they look for him. Because they look for him they find him. To find God you must need God.

The unbeliever is one who does not need God.

To believe in God you must be in need of God.

You will not be what you declare. You will be what you believe.

Faith comes first. Declaration comes later. Faith comes from God. And declaration must come from faith.

No declaration of faith will work in your favour if you have no faith.

Unless you are taught, rebuked, corrected and trained in righteousness by interacting with the word of God you will not be equipped to do the tasks that God wants you to do. To get into the place where you can work for God you must undergo a training, and this is possible only when you study the Bible and let its truth transform you.

Those who seek public approval for their charitable acts will receive no reward from God. Human applause is the only reward they will receive.

Sayings of Samuel Godfrey George - October 2015, Part 1

Faith at its best is trusting in God when it makes no sense.

Wisdom is learning to be at peace with your imperfections.

This is God's kindness to me, I asked him for something I needed very much. But I waited a year or more to ask him for that. When I finally did ask him he supplied my need instantly. Today I can only smile and say the words with awe, "God is great."

Let's not get lost in ourselves. Let's appreciate others. It is when we see the good in others, others will be able to see the good in us.

No one can uproot what God has planted. So grow without fear knowing that God will sustain what he planted.

To be happy in life you should try to make others happy. True happiness is in giving and not receiving.

We need to sow before we can reap. We need to work before we can enjoy the benefits. We need to employ the talent that God has given us. And we need to give to others from what we have freely received. Yes, all of us have received a measure of God's grace. And each of us has a gift. We must use this gift to benefit others and bring them close to God. We need to bring God glory, for this alone is our thanksgiving for his gracious gifts. And when we give like this we will receive, exactly in the same way we gave. There is no denying this.

God alone is the giver. Human beings are only agents of God. We should ask God and expect to receive from him through human beings. Sometimes we need to do more than ask God for something. We need to keep on asking. But we should only ask God in that way. He alone can give what we ask. He alone can make something happen when nothing seems to go our way. God alone can make a way when there seems to be no way. And it is his way that we must always seek.

Know God's heart before you ask him anything. God loves you and cares for you. God will give you what you need. You must be willing to wait for it. Use your talent to bring glory to God. Every one of us has something to give. Give as much as you can. And you will receive in the same measure in which you gave. Make no mistake about this. We give because we have received. We give and we will receive in the same manner as we gave. These are divine truths that will always prevail.

Ask God before you ask anyone else. Ask God and believe that you will receive. He will help you through humans most probably. But you should ask God first.

You will receive your miracle when God wants it to happen. Wait patiently until then. He will be on time.

You need to rest because God wants you to rest. You can worry and feel desperate. But this will do you no good. In fact this will have an adverse effect on your health. If you trust in God, you must rest in his promise. Believe that he will help you somehow.

Don't look at your problem. Look at God. Fix your eyes on God. And he will come to your rescue.

A grateful heart will express itself. There is no need to prod it.

Whether we believe in a god or no god, many of us live with a desire for common good. We want to help others besides helping ourselves and our near and dear. We want to give something back, for we realize we have taken something away for our personal use. But to whom or to what we are in debt we cannot agree about that. We want to be good, but we cannot agree about why we want to be good. We want to die peacefully and gratefully, with fulfilled aims, whether we believe in a supernatural deity or not. This common desire for good is what unites a severely fractured world. Let our beliefs in god or no god not prevent us from holding on to the basic thing that unites all human beings. Let us not widen the fractures that are already there. Let us walk toward one another and cross over the fractures.

Some don't need God. Some don't need any god. All that they need is their mind and what it has so clearly revealed to them. Years of ill-formed belief and crushing dogma are said to have turned hearts away from the worship of a supernatural deity thought to dwell in the sky but also seen to be present everywhere on earth. People who don't need God just need their minds and what their minds have collectively found. And this is what they have found. They have found that the deity or deities that many worship cannot be found anywhere on earth or anywhere above. All that exists is the outcome of many scientific processes and the point of origin is still being studied. But many who study this origin are not ready to admit the reality of a creator. For the scientific truths do not point to a creation but an evolution of everything that we now find around us. Their knowledge is still incomplete and may always remain incomplete, as long as they are human. But that will not prevent some of them from making the ultimate guess. There is nothing supernatural about this natural universe. That's what they think. And that's the assumption which will shape whatever they find in future.

Let us give up our unsound beliefs and move on with what we know deeply in our hearts. God is the only one to be honoured. He alone is good. He alone should be followed. He loves us more than any human parent. He cares for us more than any human does. He alone knows what is best for us. It is he alone that we should be loyal to. But to know him we must go through a terrible period of learning, where we need to give up our ill-formed, immature theories of God and our incomplete black and white vision of what is right and what is wrong.

Have all those who lived long been obedient people who honoured their parents? Are all those who live long God-fearing people who acknowledge and honour God in their hearts? The way of the world seems different from what is believed by some people. God-fearing people seem to live more troubled lives than those who have no need to acknowledge God. Some have undergone torture and death for their faith. Some have endured disdain and ridicule for their loyalty to God. Nearly all believers continue in their difficult journey of faith by believing that their rewards will come in another life. But life on earth, as it superficially seems, offers few rewards and many sufferings to those who walk after God.

When I wake up, I long to get back to work. That is my great blessing.

God keeps me going. By myself I would have stopped a long time ago, and I would have been a perennial rolling stone by now without any moss.

Even a useless thing is useful when it points you to what is useful.

When life doesn't make sense, hold on to the belief that God always makes sense. Even when good things are removed from your life and blessings seem plucked out of your hands, God is still at play, and whatever he allows he has a good reason for it, and he will cause all things, even these terribly unfair things to work together for your good in the end.

When a door is closed, even when a promising door is closed, and there seems to be no good reason for that to happen, believe that all things happen for a purpose, and God is behind all of them. He will not allow what is eventually not good for you. And he is the only one you should never lose sight of. For no plan is as beneficial as his plan for you. And no one can shut what he opens. And no one can put down what he has exalted.

Accidents will happen. Misunderstandings will go on. People will tread on your toes. Demons will dance. But you have to go where God tells you to go, and do what he tells you to do, even if the way is blocked and the door is shut in your face.

God can exceed our expectations. But he does not always. Jesus said that it would be done according to our faith. So to receive from God we should expect him to give. To receive more we should expect more. We should believe that God is a giver and that his giving can exceed our expectations by a great margin.

Forgiveness is an outcome of love. A great outcome of God's love is forgiveness. The best gift that human beings receive from God's love is forgiveness. When we receive God's forgiveness graciously in this loving manner, we should also reflect the same graciousness to others. As God loves us we should love others. As God forgave us in love, we too should forgive others in love. That is why we should not give any place in our lives to bitterness, rage and anger, and we should not engage ourselves in brawling and slander. We should be kind and compassionate, seeing others as God sees us.

There is one God and so there is only one love that unites us all. This love surpasses knowledge, because no man-made knowledge can grasp it. But by the Spirit of God, we will be given the grace to grasp how wide and long, high and deep this love of God runs, cutting across man-made boundaries and penetrating superficial barriers. Not only will love embrace us all but it will also equip us to serve God and become united in faith as God intends us to be. When we reach that place, we will become Christ-like in the most complete manner.

God loves you. He will always love you. He will always forgive you no matter how much you sin. But should you return his love with rebellion against him? This is the question that all who receive his love have to answer.

You don't save a life by sinning. You ruin your own life.

Wait for God. It may seem like a long time. But it is worth it.

As long as you know that your love is true, don't worry about someone else thinks.

Don't try to do something great. Just do something that will bring you and someone else joy.

If you want to prove to someone that God is real and that he is here, let them see him in you. Love someone you would normally hate. Bless someone you would normally curse. Help the poor without drawing attention to yourself. Think kind thoughts about everyone. See God in everyone, no matter how they see you.

If you want to prove that God is here, then show them that God is in you. That's the only way you can prove it.

You love God by loving people. Love people without expecting anything in return. Love even those who are difficult to love. That's how you show everyone how much you love God.

I don't spend too much time writing anything. I let the words tumble out of me. There will always be a better expression. But I try to come up with a sincere expression as quickly as possible. I don't go after the elusive best. I stick with the spontaneous and not- so-perfectly-formed expression.

Some wise men in this world do not believe in God. Because the very idea of God is not logical to them. And the knowledge of God appears like foolishness to them. They see believers in God as deluded. And so believers are seen as fools. But the Bible presents an opposite case. Those who believe in God are seen as wise, and those who disbelieve in God are seen as fools. These fools despise the knowledge of God and refuse to be instructed by the truth of God.

The fear of the Lord is unknown to the fools of this world. To be a fool in the biblical sense is to deny the very existence of God. The fools of this world not only deny that God exists but also despise the knowledge of God, which is transmitted to us through the ages by the writers of the Bible.

There is avoidable sin. And then there is unavoidable sin. Don't let the avoidable become unavoidable.

Sin is sin. It doesn't become admirable if it is a means of achieving something good. Sin will most likely be forgiven if you confess it to God. But let God's graciousness not be a license to sin, even for a worthy purpose.

Don't sin consciously to help someone else. Your good intention will mean nothing if you carry it out knowing well that you are rebelling against God.

Help people. But don't do anything that you know is wrong in order to do what is right. There are no prizes in heaven for right work done in the wrong way.

People are naturally haters and vengeance-seekers. Forgiveness is unnatural and maybe even impossible for human beings without God. But when humans allow God to shape their lives they will become more capable of forgiveness, but that alone will not always ensure best results. It is when a human being recognizes his own bottomless depravity and how God graciously forgave his unforgivable mistakes that he will be moved to forgive his human offenders in the same way.

People are naturally fault-finders. They cannot tolerate in others what they so effortlessly tolerate in themselves. Humans are hypocrites until they admit the truth about themselves. That is what Jesus Christ will enable humans to do.

Jesus made no attempt to underestimate the power of sin. Sin is terrible and has dire consequences. That is why he suggested that we enter heaven without the body parts that had committed sin. But this should not be taken literally, or we will make the foolish mistake of thinking that it is only the body part that sinned and not the entire human being, under the control of a sinful nature. All sins are the fruits of this nature. Even after spiritual regeneration or rebirth, even as the human mind is renewed in spiritual strength, the natural inclinations of man will surface frequently, and sin will be unavoidable as long as one is in the flesh.

You should ask for help as directly as possible, expecting to be helped. If you do not receive help you should not be upset. Some people will help. Others will be reluctant to help. But God will help you through someone. You can be confident of that. God is faithful. And he will help, usually through a human being.

We are in this world together. We help others because we ourselves have received help.We help others knowing that someday we too may need help. We help others because it is the right thing to do. God has put us together, and it is not for the purpose of living for ourselves, but for the purpose of helping one another. We cannot live our lives well in isolation, caring only for ourselves. Such a life if possible will be ultimately self-defeating.

God does not appear to us in person. But we see God in one another. You see God in others and others see God in you. Our concern for others, our compassion for the suffering, our deeds of sacrificial love for the sake of others, bring out God in us. Yes God is with us and he will be seen in us. This is what Jesus Christ enabled us to experience.

How do you know that God loves you? Consider your life. Consider the people who love you and take care of you. Consider the kindness people have shown to you. Look at the world and its beauty. Look at a flower. Look at a butterfly. And you will see the love of God for you.

God loves all that he created. Every human creator will prize and protect his creation. God does the same but even better and more reliably than any human can do.

The love that outlasts every other love is God's love. It is the spontaneous love of a father for his children. It is the natural love of a creator for what he created. It is a love as lasting as the one who feels it. It is a love without end. It is a love that is not dependent on performance or tied to any expectation. It is a love that only wants to give.

Human love cannot satisfy. Humans love today and hate tomorrow. Humans love and hate interchangeably. Humans love themselves more than they love others. Human love is nearly always tied to expectations. Human love frequently does not tolerate the faults of others. So human love cannot satisfy the one who is looking for something more consistent and enduring, and which does not depend on outcomes.

We don't get to choose the people we love. It is right to love everyone. It is best to love those whom we find difficult to love.

God's love is needed because human love will not do.

I'd like to meet people. But if some people don't like to meet me I understand that. There is a lot to experience in life. There is a lot to appreciate and acknowledge. There is a lot to learn and a lot to do. Meeting people is only of the many things to do.

The last days madness is not something that I subscribe to. I am not drawn to doomsday predictions. I prefer to be aware of my own limitedness and vulnerability. Life on earth cannot be guaranteed to anyone. So anyone can die any time. Therefore it is best that one lives today as though this could very well be our last day. This is an ideal way to do our best every day.

Are these the last days of the world? These could very well be the last days for you or me individually. There is no way any one can tell exactly when the last days of this world will begin. There is no use in guessing that. It is better to assume that these may very well be the last days for us individually. And we should live in the immediacy of that truth, doing what is not only best for ourselves but also for others.

Some of us simplistically think that Jesus brings only peace, for he is called the Prince of Peace. But his peace is not the kind that the world gives. His peace initially comes as war. And in the war Christ will let you find a peace that surpasses human understanding. Even as dissension and conflict arise out of Christ and our allegiance to him, we will find a rest in his ultimate truth and ever-present guidance. This is the shelter available in the great storm that our love for Christ brings about in our lives.

We don't live in a free world where we can roam freely and do anything we want. Everything has consequences, even our attitude to God. Though we should love God ultimately, we should also fear him. For great is his capacity to destroy us. And he can destroy us utterly. Even humans may kill the body, but only God can kill the soul. And that is the part that we shouldn't allow to die. So like a responsible teacher Jesus Christ warns us regarding our attitude to God. As long as we know and fear what he is ultimately capable of doing, and walk in awareness of his ultimacy, there is nothing to fear. In fact only then can fear really dissolve, and calm enter.